Faculty Senate Chairs' Announcements

April 28, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

Based on the results of the faculty vote tally from the vote held on April 20, the Faculty Senate has unanimously and formally ratified the results as rejecting the proposed Faculty Constitution and, in accordance with that majority, will not forward the constitution document for administrative consideration or action.

As stated in a previous notice from Jenny and me, 275 faculty cast ballots on the measure, either by absentee ballot or by physical vote, representing 42.6% of eligible faculty Of those voting, 128 voted in favor of the measure, 147 voted against. These represent 46.5% and 53.5% respectively, indicating that the voting faculty chose to reject the measure. These results were confirmed by a group of representatives from across campus; these observers also confirmed there were no irregularities found in the process.

We again wish to thank all faculty for their participation in the development of this document through its many stages. We also thank all faculty, regardless of their viewpoint, who participated in the voting process. The issues related to the role of faculty in the governance processes at Idaho State University affect all faculty, and we welcome all perspectives and voices in these conversations. It is the Faculty Senate's position that continued faculty engagement is critical to the core values and missions of the University.

A vote was held on April 20, 2015 regarding faculty approval of the proposed Faculty Constitution. This vote included absentee voting, as well as physical polling locations at various locations on the Pocatello campus, and locations on the Idaho Falls and Meridian campuses. Votes were collected and tallied using a process established by the Faculty Senate and approved by the Council of Deans in March 2015. The vote count was delayed until today, April 22, 2015, due to the fact that absentee votes from the Idaho Falls and Meridian campuses had to be couriered to the Faculty Senate office. The votes from Idaho Falls were transported by Faculty Senators, while the votes from Meridian were transported via FedEx (Tracking # 773419303273) and arrived on campus this morning and were signed for by the Secretary of the Faculty Senate. They were then secured and locked in the inner office of the Faculty Senate office suite along with the ballots collected on Monday.

The process for tallying the vote included the following steps:

After all the ballots were collected, they were secured under lock and key until Wednesday, April 22.

Votes remained secured until they were opened in the presence of the Faculty Senate leadership (Jenny Semenza, Clayn Lambert, Anna Hiller, Darren Leavitt), along with observers from the Curriculum (Dr. James Bigelow), GERC (Dr. James Skidmore), and Research (Dr. Tera Letzring) Councils, as well as a representative from the Office of the University General Counsel (Mr. Dave Bagley).

Sign-in records from each voting precinct were compared against a master voting list to verify there were no voting irregularities.

Once all physical votes had been verified, absentee ballots were validated against the same list.

Once all the absentee ballots were validated, each ballot was removed from a sealed envelope and placed into one of the regular ballot station containers without noting the vote.

Once all votes were validated on the master list and the total collected verified, all ballots were mixed together so as to eliminate the possibility of tracking voting trends by polling location.

The master list and all registration lists were placed in a sealed container for safekeeping in accordance with Records Retention requirements.

Votes were then counted and tabulated, with the results posted below.

Once all ballots were counted, they were placed in a sealed container, and put in a locked, secure location in the Faculty Senate Office along with the voting lists in accordance with Records Retention requirements, again under verification of the observers.

An attached document to this statement contains a checklist form of these guidelines. Each participant and observer initialed their agreement as each step was completed. The names of the participants and the final totals are also noted on the document.

In total, 646 faculty were identified by the Idaho State University Office of Institutional Research as meeting eligibility requirements to participate in the vote. The eligibility requirement for the vote was defined as “The University Faculty (voting faculty) includes all tenured, tenure-track, non-tenure track faculty, and Graduate Faculty, at 0.5 FTE or greater. Data are based on the March 27, 2015 payroll.”

According to the vote tally, 275 faculty cast ballots on the measure, either by absentee ballot or by physical vote, representing 42.6% of eligible faculty Of those voting, 128 voted in favor of the measure, 147 voted against. These represent 46.5% and 53.5% respectively, indicating that the voting faculty chose to reject the measure.

As has been mentioned previously, this notice serves as unofficial notice of the outcome of the Constitutional vote. The vote will not be officially recognized until Monday, April 27, at the regularly scheduled Faculty Senate meeting. At that time, the Faculty Senate will consider what actions to take based on the results reported above. Until then, the Faculty Senate cannot speculate on the voter turnout, or the significance or impact of the voting result. We respect each faculty member’s individual perspectives and opinions on the subject and appreciate their participation in this vote. We again thank all those who volunteered and helped in the logistics involved in facilitating the vote at the many polling stations across the state.

The day has finally arrived for you to decide whether to approve or reject the proposed Faculty Constitution drafted by the Faculty Senate. This document represents a significant step forward for the institution and has been reviewed and commented on by faculty, councils and committees, and administration.

We ask that every eligible faculty member participate in this vote, regardless of the position they wish to take. This Constitution seeks to guide the manner in which faculty recommendations are perceived on this campus, but that can only occur if those recommendations reflect a wide spectrum and majority of the faculty. Boycotting or refusing to vote critically undermines this effort.

It is in the spirit of promoting a full representation of ideas that Dr. Semenza and I include four attachments to this email. The content of these attachments were referenced in an article that appeared in yesterday's (April 19) edition of the Idaho State Journal; they are here presented in their full form so that all can review both sides and decide for themselves which arguments are the more persuasive:

The polls opened this morning at 8 am and remain open until 6 pm. You can physically cast a ballot in Pocatello at the Pond SUB, the Oboler Library, or at the lobby of Garrison Hall, in Idaho Falls at the CHE building, or in Meridian in the first floor common area.

Again, we thank you all for your time and consideration in this matter and hope you will participate with us in this event..

Polling stations will open at 8:00 am and remain open until 6:00 pm. Faculty can vote in person at any of these locations, or submit an absentee vote according to the process outlined in the attached document. We would like to remind faculty that photo ID will be required to submit a physical vote in person. Please forward any questions to the Faculty Senate Office at 208.282.4956 or at fsenate@isu edu.

Sincerely,

Clayn Lambert and Jenny Semenza
Faculty Senate co-chairs

April 6, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to announce that a proposed Faculty Constitution has been approved by Faculty Senate for an all-faculty vote. The results of this vote will have the final say on whether the Constitution will be forwarded to the administration or remanded back to the Senate. The logistics for this vote are outlined in the paragraphs below and in the attached documents. We request your thoughtful consideration of these documents and your participation in the vote on April 20, 2015 or before, should you choose the absentee ballot option.

Faculty Voter Eligibility
All ISU faculty members currently under contract at 0.5 or greater FTE with an expectation of continuing employment are eligible to vote. Affiliate, Visiting, and temporary faculty are not eligible.

All eligible faculty are permitted to vote once and only once, and may use either of the following two procedures:

Voting Procedure #1: In-person voting -- April 20, 2015All faculty members eligible to vote may vote in person on a paper ballot at an on-campus polling station on the Pocatello, Meridian, and Idaho Falls campuses. Polling stations will be open from 8:00 a.m until 6:00 p.m. Locations and details will be forthcoming.

Print your name LEGIBLY on the back of the sealed envelope, and sign below your printed name.

Sealed and signed ballot envelopes may be dropped off at the Faculty Senate Office, REND 301 (3rd Floor, Rendezvous Building, northwest corner) between now and April 20.

To mail your ballot, place the sealed and signed ballot inside another envelope (or interoffice mail envelope for campus mail), address the outer envelope to the address below, and send it via campus mail or U.S. Postal Service (with the proper postage affixed).

Ballots mailed through U.S. Postal Service must be postmarked no later than April 17, 2015 to be accepted.

Ballots may be dropped off at the Faculty Senate Office until 6:00 p.m. on Monday, April 20, 2015. Ballots sent through campus mail will be collected daily from the campus post office.

All absentee ballots received, whether dropped off in the Faculty Senate Office, or through campus mail or U.S. Mail, will have the names verified against the eligible voter list. Once voting eligibility is verified, the ballot envelope will be unsealed in the presence of a neutral observer during the vote count, and the ballot will be dropped blindly into a ballot box containing multiple ballots to ensure anonymity.

We would like to remind faculty of the upcoming deadline for comments and revisions to the current draft of the Faculty Constitution, currently set for Tuesday, February 17 at 5 pm. All comments, suggestions, and other correspondence should be directed to fsenate@isu.edu with the subject line: Constitutional Feedback.

We would also like to invite interested faculty members to contact Catherine in the Faculty Senate Office (xt. 4956 or fsenate@isu.edu) if they would like to be included in the list for speaking slots at our meeting set for February 23. Due to other scheduled Senate business, the open forum session will be limited to a total of 45 mintues and precedence will be given to those who register ahead of the meeting.

Regards,
Clayn and Jenny
Faculty Senate co-chairs

January 13, 2015

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last year, members of the Faculty Senate have been working to complete and adopt a proposed Faculty Constitution. In Fall 2014, a timeline was drafted to outline the process for reviewing and voting on a proposed version of the the Constitution. As outlined in this timeline, a draft version of this Constitution was distributed to the various Executive Councils and Committees, along with the Graduate, Curriculum, Research, and General Education Requirements Councils and Committees. In December 2014, the feedback received from these bodies was integrated into the initial draft by Faculty Senate.

Now that the first phase of review is complete, Faculty Senate is distributing a draft of this Constitution for faculty review and input as the second phase of review. A copy of the timeline and draft Constitution are attached to this email for your convenience.

To facilitate the review, we would like to request that comments, suggestions, or amendments be handled in the following manner:

To expedite the review process, all correspondence should be received by the Faculty Senate office by Tuesday, February 17, 2015 by the close of business.

Whenever possible, we would request that questions or critiques of the current draft be attached or directed toward specifc sections of the draft. If possible, marking the section of the Constitution that addresses the point in question makes it easier for the Senate to consider how to best address the concerns being raised.

We have found that some critiques are more philosophical in nature and do not lend themselves to specific revisions of sections of the draft; these kinds of comments and concerns are welcome and will be addressed by the Senate in its deliberations. Whenever possible, however, the inclusion of revised language or suggested alterations to the current draft are most helpful.

All suggestions, comments, concerns, etc. will be handled by the Faculty Senate Office. All email correspondence should be directed to fsenate@isu.edu. It is requested that faculty use the Subject line: Constitution Feedback to separate it from other business matters.

If faculty members would like to submit more confidential comments, they can be mailed or dropped off at the Faculty Senate Office (REND 301). For mailed comments, the campus mailing address is: Faculty Senate, Mail Stop 8070.

All correspondence will be kept confidential and any personally identifying information will be redacted from comments before being passed on to the Faculty Senate as a whole.

Once the comments have been collected and organized by the Faculty Senate co-chairs, Faculty Senate will begin reviewing and deliberating on faculty comments.

Faculty are invited to attend the February 23, 2015 session of Faculty Senate. At this meeting, a special open forum will be held where faculty can speak and provide context for questions, concerns, or suggestions that have been offered. This session will begin at 4 pm in REND 301. While this is an open session, if possible for organizational clarity, faculty intending to speak are invited to contact the Faculty Senate Office at xt. 4956 or fsenate@isu.edu so a speaking order can be established. Additional speakers can sign up prior to, or during, the meeting.

Once the comments and suggestions have been reviewed and the draft revised, according to the timeline, a voting procedure will be distributed outlining how the vote on the Constitution will be conducted.

If you have any questions about this process, please contact the Faculty Senate Office or your FAculty Senate representatives.

We will start Step 2 next week by sending the proposed Constitution to college executive committees as well as to University Curriculum Council, Research Council, Graduate Council and General Education Requirements Committee for review and comment. This information is being sent to inform you of the process, and to encourage you to review the constitution in preparation for Step 4 which will begin in January. If you have any questions, please contact your Faculty Senate representatives.

Regards,

Clayn and Jenny
Faculty Senate Co-chairs

September 2, 2014

Dear Colleagues,

As a reminder, the closing date for commentary is fast approaching for the Conflict of Interest policies and associated documents (links below), which can have a significant impact on faculty. We would encourage all faculty to review this policy and the associated documents, and submit your comments.

Regards,

Clayn and Jenny
Faculty Senate Co-chairs

from original email sent June 3, 2014:

After the 2014 Fall semester begins, the Office of General Counsel (OGC) will be proposing adoption of a new ISUPP – 10600 Conflicts of Interest policy.

In advance of formal approval of the Conflicts of Interest Policy, it is crucial that all employees avoid conflicts of interest. Therefore all employees should review the definitions of "conflict of interest and potential conflict of interest" and should report all actual or potential conflicts to their supervisor to avoid violations of law or State Board Policy.

Members of the ISU community may comment on the attached policy and forms during the next 107 days, through September 18, 2014. All comments must include the individual's name, organization, and department. Comments which do not provide the required information will not be considered. All properly submitted comments will receive consideration, but the commenter will not necessarily receive a response. Thank you for your participation in this process. Please send comments via email to policies@isu.edu.

For those of you who are new to campus, we would like to welcome you aboard! For those of you who are more experienced, we are excited to see you back and wish you all the best as you prepare for a new semester. We would like to welcome you back and to update you on important events taking place around campus in the next few weeks.

Multiculturalism Workshops

Welcome Back - Orange and Black

Faculty Senate Meetings

Multiculturalism Workshops

Idaho State University, under the direction of President Arthur C. Vailas, recently announced a new Multiculturalism Initiative for the ISU campus. As part of this initiative, the Office of Human Resources, International Programs Office, and EO/AA & Diversity, is pleased to announce several workshop opportunities for ISU faculty, staff and students. It is expected that ALL ISU employees attempt to attend one of the workshops below.

September 11th Multicultural Relations and CommunicationISU Faculty Workshop:
Diversity, multiculturalism, and international relations and communication between faculty and students, staff and students. Two times offered:

***Remember to print out the handout (included with the original facultymemos email, or click the link) and bring to the session you attend.

Welcome Back - Orange and Black!
Our opening Communiversity event will be taking place on August 25, from 4 - 7 pm in Old Town. More information is available at Welcome Back Orange and Black!

Faculty Senate Meetings
Faculty Senate will start its regularly scheduled meetings on Monday, August 25 at 4 pm in the Faculty Senate Conference Room. More information about the agenda, business items, and other items of interest will soon be available at http://www.isu.edu/fsen

The Faculty Senate voted last week to elect faculty to the Standing Appeals Pool for three-year terms. We had a robust pool from which to choose: 11 faculty were nominated or self-nominated. We had a quorum of Senators engaged in voting. The following faculty members were elected to serve in the Standing Appeals Pool:

Chris Loether, Anthropology

Diana Livingston-Friedley, Music

Cathleen Tarp, Languages & Litertures

Julie Melton, CSD, DHS (Meridian)

Thank you for your willingness to serve and participation in governance at ISU. This information has been sent to Human Resources so that the Standing Appeals Pool is readily staffed.